“Acquisition”, with respect to photo management software, is a process of copying digital image files and associated files, such as, for example, wav files, metadata files, or other files, from a removable storage device, such as, for example, a compact flash (CF), a secure digital (SD) card, a flash drive, or other removable storage device, to local storage of a processing device. In addition to copying the digital image files and the associated files, the acquisition process may rename the files according to a user-defined naming pattern, may automatically apply imaging effects, may write metadata to the files, as well as performing other functions.
Currently, using existing photo management software, a photographer may manage copying of the digital image files and associated files from the removable storage device, and may process the files by, for example, renaming the files, applying imaging effects to the files, writing metadata to the files, or performing other functions with respect to the files, via a single user interface (UI). Thus, to start acquisition processing of files, a photographer may connect a removable storage device to a processing device and may manually configure acquisition processing to copy the files from the removable storage device, to rename the files, to apply imaging effects to the files, to write metadata to the files, or to perform other functions with respect to the files. The process, in existing photo management software, is inefficient because the photographer may interrupt what he or she is doing in order to configure acquisition processing before any files are copied from the removable storage device. Further, when using most photo management software, the photographer may not continue to use the photo management software until the copying of files is completed. In addition, most photo management software may not allow copying from multiple devices to occur simultaneously. Thus, copying from multiple devices may only be performed serially when using most photo management software.
Because photographers may have only a limited number of removable storage devices, the photographer may remove a removable storage device before acquisition processing has completed. When the photographer wishes to continue acquiring the files stored on the removable storage device, the photographer may connect the removable storage device to the processing device and may manually determine which files were moved to the processing device and which files were not moved to the processing device. The photographer may then manually configure acquisition processing to move and process the previously unmoved files.